A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Laud Misc. 386

Summary Catalogue no.: 1298

Song of Songs, with Expositiones. Germany, A) (fols 2–21) s. xivmed; B) (fols 22–45) s. xii2; C) (fols 46–103) s. xiv1

Physical Description

This description is abbreviated from Daniela Mairhofer, Medieval Manuscripts from the Mainz Charterhouse in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: A Descriptive Catalogue (Oxford, 2018), pp. 1098–1107. For purposes of scholarly citation, reference to the printed catalogue is requested.
Composite: A) (fols 2–21) || B) (fols 22–45) || C) (fols 46–103)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: iii (17th-cent.) + 102 + iii (17th-cent.) leaves
Foliation: i, ii, 1–106, in modern (19th-cent.) pencil

Collation

A) i & ii 10; B) iii–v 8; C) vi & vii 10 | viii 12 | ix 10 | x & xi 8.

Binding

Brown tanned calf over laminated pulpboard for Abp. Laud, 1637–1639.

History

Provenance and Acquisition

William Laud, 1573–1645: The present book consists of three different German parts, which were presumably consolidated only in the course of the Laudian binding. Ex-libris inscription of Archbishop Laud, dated 1638, at the lower margin of fol. 2r.

Given to the Bodleian as part of his third donation, dispatched on 28 June 1639.

MS. Laud Misc. 386 – Part A) (fols 2–21)

Contents

1. (fols 2ra–3vb)
Song of Songs
Language(s): Latin
2. (fols 4ra–21va)
Commentary on Song of Songs (Stegmüller, RB, 10070, this copy only (s. ‘XV’)).
Language(s): Latin
3. (fol. 21va–vb)
Theological work
Rubric: De decem stultitiis in bello spirituali cavendis

Followed by note and verse prayer.

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: meum cum (fol. 3ra)
Form: codex
Support: parchment
Dimensions (leaf): c.230–32 × 166–68 mm.

Collation

i & ii 10.

Layout

Ruling in ink, two columns of 42 lines. Ruled space c.187–94 × 122–24 mm.

Hand(s)

German textualis, s. xivmed, each item in a different hand: A1) (fols 2ra–3vb) item 1; A2) (fols 4ra–21va, l. 4) item 2; cursive textualis; guides to initials; A3) (fol. 21va, l. 6–vb) item 3; small cursive textualis. The note and prayer on fol. 21vb in a fourth hand, s. xivex, seemingly from the Mainz Charterhouse.

Decoration

(fols 2ra, 4ra & 4va) Flourished initials in red and blue.

(fol. 4ra) a simple one-line initial in blue, vertically stroked in red.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: Mid 14th century ; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the late 14th-cent. ex-libris inscription at the upper right-hand margin of fol. 2r: ‘Fratrum Cartusiensium prope mogunciam’.

MS. Laud Misc. 386 – Part B) (fols 22–45)

Contents

4. (fol. 22r)
Hymns

Two hymns on the Virgin Mary by Gottschalk of Limburg (ed. G. M. Dreves, Godescalcus Lintpurgensis. Gottschalk, Mönch vom Limburg an der Hardt ..., Hymnologische Beiträge 1 (Leipzig, 1897) 177 (no. 8); ed.: AH 50. 271 [8]; Chevalier 5780) and an anonymous author (ed.: Daniel, Thesaurus hymnologicus, 1. 245–46; AH 51. 125; ed. G. G. Meersseman, Der Hymnos Akathistos im Abendland, I. Akathistos-Akoluthie und Grußhymnen, Spicilegium Friburgense 2 (Fribourg, 1958) 151f. (no. 14); Chevalier 7042 (Nativitas, etc., BMV); ICL 5500; CAO 8307).

Language(s): Latin
5. (fols 22v–45r)
Song of Songs with gloss

With prefaces and gloss (on fols 22va–36rc & 45r only), interlinear and marginal, sometimes identical with the Glossa ordinaria (ed.: GO 2. 708–23; – Stegmüller, RB, 11804).

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: Huc usque (gloss, fol. 23ra); Trahe me (Bible text, fol. 23rb)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fols 22r & 45v) small rust marks, presumably from former binding furniture.
Dimensions (leaf): c.213–23 × 149–57 mm.

Collation

iii–v 8.

Layout

Ruling (fols 22v ff.) in lead point; where marginal gloss occurs, three columns of (cols a & c) varying line numbers, and ruled for ad hoc, or (col. b) 13 lines. Ruled space c.135 or 175–85 × 135/36 mm.

Hand(s)

German protogothic script, s. xii2, by three hands: (fol. 22r) the first hymn of item 4 in hand B1; the second one in hand B2; B3) (fols 22va–45rc). The gloss occasionally supplemented in a contemporary, cursive hand, using different ink.

Decoration

(fol. 22vb) a three-line initial in red to item 5: the letter parted, with foliate infill (a stem reserved against the parchment, ending in three-petalled leaves), on green and blue ground. (Pächt and Alexander i. 88)

History

Origin: 12th century, second half ; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the late 14th-cent. ex-libris inscriptions at the lower right-hand margin of fol. 22r: ‘Codex carthusiensium moguncie.’, and at the upper centre of fol. 45v: ‘Codex carthusiensium maguncie’.

MS. Laud Misc. 386 – Part C) (fols 46–103)

Contents

6. (fols 46ra–99ra)
Commentary on Song of Songs (Stegmüller, RB, 10071, citing the present MS.; expl. cf. Stegmüller 2784, and suppl.: William of Alton, in Ct; BAMAT 19 (2009) 630), with copious annotation in the margins, including parts of the Glossa ordinaria in a different, contemporary hand.

Followed by (fols 99ra–101ra) three quaestiones (not recorded in Stegmüller).

Language(s): Latin
7. (fols 101ra–102vb)
Song of Songs
Language(s): Latin
8. (fol. 103va–vb)
Bertold of Regensburg, Sermon

Sermon on Sts Peter and Paul (Schneyer 1. 484. 154; cf. also Schneyer 7. 258. 185).

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Secundo Folio: -tiplex in (fol. 47ra)
Form: codex
Support: parchment; (fol. 48) remnants of medieval repair (stitching holes).
Dimensions (leaf): c.220–23 × 168–72 mm.

Collation

vi & vii 10 | viii 12 | ix 10 | x & xi 8.

Layout

Ruling in ink (except for the last verso, fol. 103v: verticals only, in lead point), two columns of 41 or 42 (fol. 103v: 53 & 48 unruled) lines. Ruled space c.175–83 × 116–24 mm.

Hand(s)

German textualis, s. xiv1, two hands: C1) (fols 46ra–101ra, l. 18); C2) (fols 101ra, l. 18–102vb). Item in a hand of s. xiv2. Occasionally 15th-cent. marginalia, added at the Charterhouse at Mainz.

Decoration

(fols 46ra & 63va) four-, (fols 46rb, 47rb, 54rb & 70ra) three- and (fol. 99va) two-line fleuronnée initials in red, with fine decoration inside and out, and extensions.

Coloured initials in red.

(fol. 85va) five-line initial planned, but not filled in.

Rubrication.

History

Origin: 14th century, first half ; Germany

Provenance

Mainz, Carthusian abbey of St Michael: the 15th-cent. ex-libris inscriptions at the lower right-hand margin of fol. 102v: ‘Codex Carthusiensium maguncie.’ and, presumably in the same hand, at the head of fol. 103v (partly trimmed): ‘Liber Carthusiensium prope magunciam.’

Additional Information

Record Sources

See above. Previously described in the Quarto Catalogue (H. O. Coxe, Laudian Manuscripts, Quarto Catalogues II, repr. with corrections, 1969, from the original ed. of 1858–1885). Decoration, localization and date [part 2] follow Pächt and Alexander (1966).

Digital Images

Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)

Bibliography

    Published descriptions:

    Daniela Mairhofer, Medieval Manuscripts from the Mainz Charterhouse in the Bodleian Library, Oxford: A Descriptive Catalogue, 2 vols. (Oxford, 2018), pp. 1098–1107

Last Substantive Revision

2023-09-16: Description revised for Mainz digitization project to include additional information from Mairhofer catalogue.